Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for facilitating placing of poultry in containers, wherein the poultry animals are supplied on a poultry conveyor.
Description of Related Art
Poultry is usually accommodated in coops arranged adjacently of each other in series, the bottom thereof having a permeable structure. A conveyor belt usually extends under the bottom of the series of coops for the purpose of discharging the manure which has been produced by the poultry and has fallen through the bottom. This conveyor belt can also be used to transport the poultry to a loading station placed at an end of the series of coops, for which purpose the bottoms are removed from the coops and the poultry animals drop onto the conveyor belt, which is referred to in the context of this document as poultry conveyor. Such a coop structure is known as the so-called ‘Bromax’ system marketed by Jansen Poultry. At the position of the loading station at the end of the series of poultry coops the poultry animals are taken from the end of the poultry conveyor by hand and loaded one by one up to a desired number into a container, usually in the form of a crate, in which the poultry animals are transported to the slaughterhouse.